Discovery
by Cloudy Luminosity
Summary: Digging had always been Dana's favorite activity. Even after she received her first pokémon, while others were out collecting badges, she was out hunting for rare gems and fossils. They all grew into trainers while she grew into a woman of science. She just never thought that her career in archaeology would lead her down the path of romance.
1. Discovery

Water dripped from the ceiling of the underground cavern and onto Dana's helmet as she walked through the passageways. The droplet trickled down and onto the curly red hair that was haphazardly tied together at the back of her neck, but the archaeologist hardly noticed. Instead, she was focused on navigating the familiar tunnels. It was cold down there and smelled like a mixture of dirt and brine: her favorite smell in the morning—or was it the afternoon? Regardless, the scent would normally leave the redhead feeling relaxed, but she was on a mission that kept her far from it.

Dana shifted the pickaxe on her shoulder before turning to the tall pokémon beside her. "Could you hurry it up? We need to get as much as we can for the big conference next week."

Her trusty Gabite snorted as if to tell her that he really didn't care.

"Hey, you can keep most of the gems if we can find good fossils to showcase," she told him. "How's that sound?"

The cave pokémon grumbled before nipping at her elbow in protest.

She winced as she pulled away. "Hey! What did I tell you about biting?"

Gabite closed his eyes and snorted as he turned away, though he continued walking at his trainer's side.

The woman lowered her tone as she admitted, "I know it's a lot more work than usual, but the conference is next week and we really need to make up for all those specimens that were stolen yesterday." She furrowed her eyebrows as she looked down and scoffed. "I can't believe that Maria trusted the museum to keep everything safe after what happened last time." Dana waved her free arm around as her voice grew higher in pitch. "What the heck is wrong with people—stealing those perfect scientific specimens? Who knows if we'll ever find another fossil in such prime condition again? I mean... maybe we'll eventually find something close, but we'll probably never find anything as good."

Gabite froze midway through her verbal tirade, his senses directing him to the wall at their right. A low roar emitted from his throat in an attempt to gather her attention without echoing through the whole underground. She halted her train of thought before stepping aside and placing her hand against the cool rocky surface. Once the scientist located a stable place to begin, she raised her pickaxe and carefully chipped away at the wall. In her search, she managed to uncover a few glittering gems about the size of a marble—not good enough for the exhibition. With a pout, the redhead plucked them from their perches and handed them to Gabite before backing away. Her pokémon's eyes gleamed as he stared at the sparkling jewels between his fingers.

As the two of them pressed onward, Dana returned to her rant. "Maria's never going to tell Roark like it is, and this'll just happen all over again!"

Gabite grunted as he inspected one of the shinier gems.

"You know what?" She clenched her free fist as a fierce grin tugged at her lips. "Maybe I should tell him myself. It's not like our specimens were the only ones lost—the miners lost plenty too. He needs to help set up a real security system for the place."

As she went on and on again, Gabite's eyes went wide. After a series of excited grunts and whistles, he leaned in and nipped at her elbow again.

Dana's free hand flew to the sore spot as she reminded him, "Hey, it hurts when you do that!"

The cave pokémon snorted as he pointed to the wall behind her. Raising an eyebrow, she turned to take a look, and her jaw dropped at the sight. In that large section of wall—probably a good three meters across, spanning from the cavern floor to the ceiling—she could see several pieces of fossil jutting out. To be more accurate, Gabite's new find looked like it could be one massive fossil. The archaeologist's lips curved into a wide grin as she grabbed her pickaxe and went straight to work.


	2. Encounter

Dana had been working on the dig for what seemed like hours now—probably long past the time her employer expected her and Gabite to return to the surface. It was times like these when she noted how unfortunate it was that they had no way of contacting her. Poor Maria was likely getting ready to send a search party down to find them, but Dana certainly wasn't going to leave the area behind and risk having her hours of hard work being stolen again. Besides, Gabite was already comfortable where he was. Getting him to leave his temporary nests was always difficult, especially when he was hoarding so many new gems there.

Taking a brief break, the archaeologist carefully put down her pickaxe and wiped the dirt from her brow before taking another swig of water—at least... that was the plan. When she raised the canteen to her lips and tipped it over, only a few drops of the life-giving liquid came out. She pursed her lips and closed an eye as she peered into the container. Sure enough, it was empty.

The redhead shrugged her shoulders before returning it to her belt. "Oh well. At least I'm halfway done."

As she picked up her pickaxe again, a low growl echoed in her ears. She would have assumed that it was her stomach again if not for the intense volume. All blood drained from her face as she whipped around to face Gabite—just in time to see him rushing off with narrowed eyes. Dana dropped her tools and raced after the pokémon. When she caught up, she wrapped her arms around him and held him back from attacking the stranger before them.

The pokémon snarled as he swiped at the air, his rough skin scratching his trainer's cheek as she commanded, "Calm down! I don't think anyone's stupid enough to try to take your gems."

The man laughed before confirming, "I was just exploring. I didn't mean to intrude on your territory."

Gabite relaxed in her arms as he stopped struggling, prompting her to release him. The pokémon warily eyed the stranger before snorting and hurrying back to his makeshift nest of jewels. A relieved sigh pushed its way past Dana's lips as she turned back to the man who had almost been attacked. He was tall and thin, and his light blue hair nearly matched his eyes. Admittedly, it was a little weird that he was wearing such a nice suit in such a dirty place, but—hey—it was pretty snazzy.

The archaeologist absentmindedly tugged at her dust-covered shirt as she flashed him an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that. He gets a little possessive when it comes to his gems."

He laughed as he put his hands in his pockets. "That's quite alright. It wasn't my first encounter like that, and I doubt that it will be the last."

The sound of claws on dirt drew the woman's attention back to her pokémon. As she turned around, she saw him scratching at the wall that she had been carefully excavating for the past several hours.

She tensed as she shouted, "Hey, stop that!"

The cave pokémon froze and snorted as he turned to the redhead and tilted his chin toward his neck—a gesture that she had come to recognize as his version of pouting.

As Dana relaxed, she promised, "I'll get that gem out for you in a bit. I just don't want the wall to collapse and ruin the fossil, okay?"

Her pokémon grumbled to himself before scampering over to his nest and curling up atop his treasures.

"I have heard that the Gible line can be difficult to raise," the stranger commented with a smile. "Not many can do it, but you seem to have succeeded fairly well."

She couldn't help but laugh as she proudly beamed at her pokémon. "Yeah. It was hard to get him to stop biting, but he really turned out to be the perfect partner for me. We both took on early interests—me in archaeology and him in his gems. I once read that they normally don't care until they've reached the first evolution, but from the moment he hatched, he just couldn't get enough of them."

The man looked from the pile of jewels beneath Gabite to the large fossil sticking out of the wall beside him. "At a glance, I can't say I'm surprised." He turned back to her as he asked, "Are you a hobbyist?"

"Oh, no," she clarified. "I'm from the Eterna lab, but we partner with Roark and the Oreburgh Mining Museum."

His eyes briefly widened. "Ah, I see. Your lab is presenting at the International Archaeology Conference next week."

She nodded. "Yeah, but our main specimen was stolen yesterday, so I've been working on getting this new one."

As she gestured back to her partially excavated fossil, a low roar resonated from her stomach.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you breaking for lunch soon?"

"Actually... I had lunch a few hours ago." Dana sheepishly grinned as she admitted, "I may have underpacked. I didn't really think that I'd find such a huge specimen." Glancing back to Gabite's nest, she joked, "So how many gems do I need to hand over for you to grab me some food and water?"

Gabite's eyes went wide as he growled at the two humans and protectively covered his hoard.

The man beside her laughed before reaching into his pocket. "I'll just give you this. I was about to head up anyway."

He pulled out a clear bag containing an untouched sandwich and held it out for her.

She deadpanned. "No, seriously. How much?"

The man grinned as he pushed it into her hands. "Nothing. I'm just glad to support archaeologists when I can. Let me see your canteen for a moment."

"Oh! Uh..."

The scientist haphazardly reached to her belt and removed the container before handing it over. As the man poured what remained of his water into it, she smiled.

"Thank you so much, um..." She furrowed her eyebrows. "What was your name again?"

He laughed as he handed back her now-full canteen. "Pardon me. I didn't introduce myself before. My name is Steven. You are...?"

She thanked him again before holding out her opened palm. "Dana."

Steven grinned as he reached out and shook her hand. "It was nice to meet you, Dana. Good luck on the rest of your excavation. I look forward to seeing your results at the conference."

With that said he turned around and made his way back to wherever it was that he had come from. The redhead smiled as she returned to her spot next to Gabite and opened the bag Steven had given her. After ripping the sandwich in half, she tossed her pokémon his share.

"You know, we're pretty lucky that such a nice guy ran into us," she commented before taking a bite. "Well, we'd better hurry up before Maria has a heart attack. I wonder how long we've been gone for..."


	3. Meet the Team

"Do you even know how long you were gone for?!" Maria's face was red as she held her hands on her hips. "We expected you back _eight hours ago!_ What were you thinking? And where is Gabite?"

Dana resisted rolling her eyes. _Here we go again._

The brunette before her tensed as she spoke more quickly. "Did something bad happen to him? Oh my Arceus, did he get crushed in a cave in? Why didn't you tell me?"

Dana huffed. "Relax. He's fine. There was no collapse, and he'd be fine if there was anyway." She stuffed her bony hands in her pockets as she added, "I didn't realize it was the middle of the night. I thought it was a lot earlier than that. Anyway, I had to leave Gabite to guard our findings."

Maria paled as she commented, "I hope he doesn't bite anybody..."

Waving her hand in a dismissive fashion, the redhead told her, "He'll just scare them off—maybe give a little nip. Nothing serious... probably." She shook her head. "Anyway, we're going to need the whole team to bring this one up."

Maria straightened her posture. "What did you find?"

Dana put a finger to her lips as she furrowed her eyebrows. "Well... it looks like an aerodactyl, but in a form that we've never seen before. It's significantly larger than our past samples, and the bones aren't encased in amber. They're just... _there_."

The older woman's eyes went wide. "No way. You're serious?"

Dana nodded. "Yeah, now can you get me some help?"

After gathering the digging teams associated with the museum, they all found themselves back at the site to finish the excavation. Miners and scientists alike were walking around the small section of tunnel as they carted out piles of dirt and brought up what they could. Gabite was scampering around and grabbing what gems he could before the humans reached his stash. He growled at a miner who was foolish enough to attempt to take from his pile. The man jumped back and repeatedly apologized to the pokémon before hurrying away. The cave pokémon snorted before reburying the jewels in his nest.

Dana was indifferent to her pokémon's antics as she stood next to Maria in front of the fossil.

The brunette was clearly awestruck as she commented, "This is _way_ better than the skull fossil that was stolen."

Roark stopped behind the two women and adjusted his helmet. "It's still a shame that we lost it." He turned to Dana as he added, "I'll work on that security detail you suggested over the next week or so. This would be an amazing centerpiece for the museum, and we really need to make sure that those thieves can't get it."

The gym leader stepped away as he moved to help another miner bring a cart of jewels flip-side.

Maria was still staring up at the fossil as she told her curly-haired employee, "I know that I was going to send Arno to the conference next week, but it would be a crime not to send you for this discovery."

Dana laughed. "I bet he'll be happy to stay here and work on his project anyway."

Speak of the devil, her bespectacled coworker chimed in, "The Dig-O-Matic will make the world of a difference for all the explorers and archaeologists out there!"

The two women turned to face the only man in the lab. It really was a funny sight to behold. With both lanky archaeologists flanking their much shorter and more well-dressed boss, it was odd to think that she was the one in charge sometimes.

Maria sighed. "I'm sure it will, but we really need a better name for it."

Arno pouted and grumbled, "It doesn't matter anyway if I can't study how Gabite manages to find all those gems."

Dana rolled her eyes before explaining, "We'll only be gone for a week, and you've been studying him for over a year now—wait a second." She turned to Maria with raised eyebrows. _"I'm_ presenting at the conference?"

Her boss nodded.

The redhead swallowed a gulp. "You mean... the whole thing?"

Maria tilted her head somewhat. "Yes. I thought that was clear."

"B-But..." Dana furrowed her eyebrows. "I've never even done the Sinnoh conference before, let alone the international one!"

It shouldn't have surprised her when the brunette just shrugged and told her, "Everyone starts somewhere."

"Yeah, at a small regional conference," Dana argued. "Not at something this big!"

Arno snickered. "Trial by fire, kid."

Her heart raced as her shoulders drooped. "I just don't get you sometimes, Maria. You freak out when we're out exploring, but you drop us in way over our heads when it comes to the rest of the professional stuff."

The brunette raised an unamused eyebrow as she explained, "At least with conferences, I have confidence that you'll do fine. What I _don't_ have confidence in is your ability to remember," she held up fingers as she listed off, "what time it is, that you need to eat when you're working, to tell others where you went, _where you even are_. Need I go on?"

Dana folded her arms. "Oh, come on! It's not like I have any way to contact you when I'm down here. I follow Gabite's instincts unless I'm checking my experiments—you know that—and I'm the one who led everyone back here."

"And where under Sinnoh are we?"

She tensed as she cracked a sheepish grin. "Uh... somewhere near... Hold on, I know this..." A few moments passed before she suggested, "We're under Mt. Coronet?"

Maria smirked. "We're under Floaroma Town."

Dana relaxed her shoulders as she raised her eyebrows. "Seriously? Wow, that's further west than I thought..."

"Thank you for proving my point."

Her cheeks flushed red. "Alright, I get it."

"Good." Maria smiled as she assured the younger archaeologist, "I'll come with you to help transport the samples, but I have a meeting with the other lab coordinators and I can't man the display myself. You'll do fine."

A sigh escaped Dana's lips as she mumbled, "I hope you're right..."


	4. All that Glitters

Far off in a region that Dana had never been to before, she was standing to the side in a sea of people at the convention center. The scientist straightened the hem of her dress and tucked a lock of unruly hair behind her ear in an attempt to tame it. She cast a quick glance back to the lab's display before returning her attention to the group that had just gathered around to hear what she had to present.

The redhead took a deep breath and smiled brightly before beginning her spiel for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. "Welcome! My name is Dana Carson, and I'm from the Eterna City Laboratory of Paleontology and Geology. We study the fossils and geological makeup of the Sinnoh Underground. Today I present you with our latest find." She turned and gestured to the large fossil behind her as she explained, "We uncovered this specimen last week and have done extensive studies within the short time frame we have had. The bones were found lodged within one of the cavern walls of the Underground around a mineral deposit that contained 72.9% more gems than the rest of the Underground—and that's with a 95% confidence interval."

Turning to the table, she pointed out to a bin of multicolored gems from Gabite's hoard. "Most of the samples we found were fluorite—which is uncommon in Sinnoh. From the variety of colors we recovered, and from chemical analysis, we have determined that these samples were all brought to the location by this pokémon. Observations of gabite behavior around the gemstones indicate that they are highly desired by the breed."

As the woman waved at the bones, she added, "But this is clearly not a fossil from the gible line. According to our resident fossil analyst, these follow the general shape and patterns of aerodactyl bones. At first we thought this was impossible, because they were not encased in amber and are much larger than your typical aerodactyl bones, but upon DNA analysis, we found that it was actually an aerodactyl. There was a slight difference in the sample, pointing to the direction that this may be a previously undiscovered evolution, but the bones were so similar that much more research would need to be done to confirm or disprove this hypothesis." She clapped her hands together as she grinned at her audience. "Any questions?"

The crowd dispersed except for two men. To her left was the man who had stumbled upon her excavation. What was his name again? With a glance to his nametag, she reminded herself that it was Steven. She flashed him a brief smile before turning to the other man. He was equally tall and had a funky hairdo.

The flamboyantly-dressed man stepped forward as he reached out and kissed her hand. The archaeologist's cheeks flushed a light pink as she tensed. This man was _definitely_ not the type she was used to meeting in her field.

He stood up straight as he placed a hand on his chest. "That was a wonderful presentation, _Mademoiselle._ I am Augustine Sycamore, the Kalos region's very own pokémon professor."

She nervously withdrew her hand as she nodded slightly. "It's nice to meet you, Professor Sycamore. My name is Dana Carson." She froze. "Oh wait, I already said that, didn't I?"

"Yes, but it is nice to meet you Ms. Carson," he added with a grin. "Now about your presentation... did your lab happen to find a peculiar stone with the fossil—one that was not a fluorite?"

Dana pursed her lips for a moment. "Well, we had several hundred samples—among which were a few stones that my gabite wasn't interested in—but we haven't had the chance to analyze them all yet."

He put a finger beneath his chin. "Ah, I see. I ask because I have been researching something that may tie into this discovery. I would like permission to visit the Eterna Lab in a joint investigation of the fossil."

Her shoulders drooped. "Uh... I'll have to bring it up with the head of the lab and have her contact you to figure out a good time."

The Kalos researcher reached into his pocket and handed the redhead his card. _"Très bien!_ Thank you for this opportunity. Together we should be able to work toward both of our research goals."

With that said and done, Professor Sycamore moved on to the next presentation table. Dana watched as the odd man disappeared within the crowds before turning again, only to find Steven still standing there. She smiled as they approached each other until she got close enough that she could read his full nametag. It was then when she froze and felt the blood drain from her cheeks. He wasn't just a random stranger who happened to dress nicely and have an interest in archeology. The man who gave her a sandwich last week was none other than the former Hoenn Champion and rare gem collector...

"Oh my gosh, you're _Steven Stone!"_ she blurted out with wide eyes. "I'm _so_ sorry that I didn't recognize you last week. I... well... I'm not very good at recognizing people like that..." Knots formed in her stomach as she nervously tugged at her dress. "I-I mean, someone so well-known and respected in the community... l-like you." She swallowed a gulp. "I just... I'm really sorry about that..."

Steven's shoulders drooped briefly before he smiled. "Please, don't worry about it. It was actually nice to be spoken to like a normal person—that's part of why I dropped the title of Champion to pursue my interests."

Dana forced a smile as she tried to ignore her nerves. "Oh, well that's a relief. Sorry about recognizing you...?"

He laughed. "It happens." The former Champion looked past her as he asked, "Is this what I interrupted last week?"

She followed his gaze back to the display and beamed. "Yeah, this is it. Thanks for the lunch, by the way."

"It was my pleasure." Steven waved to the minerals. "I see that the fluorites come from Hoenn, Kalos, and Johto by their colors. Do you have any theories as to how they got to Sinnoh from so far away?"

The corners of her lips extended into a wide grin. "Yes! Finally someone who cares about that!" She laughed. "I was starting to think that I was the only one—everyone else only cared about the fossil. So I haven't run this by anyone else yet, but from the fossil's wingspan, I think it would easily have the capability of trans-regional flight. Combining that with the unified region theory, I think we could easily assume that the aerodactyl was hoarding the gems in the same way Gabite did."

"I see." He turned back to the scientist. "Do you think that the two species may be closely related?"

"It would make sense if my theory is correct."

There was a short silence before Steven commented, "I'm surprised that no one else asked about the fluorite—it's very intriguing."

The redhead sighed. "Yeah... people here seem more interested in paleontology from my experience."

He raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you an archaeologist?"

Dana shrugged. "That's my official title, but my research is more geological than anything. My boss just had everyone working to find a good fossil to showcase this week." After a moment, she added, "Oh! How was my presentation?"

The Steel-type specialist raised his eyebrows. "You did well. It was interesting and professional. To be blunt, I didn't see any reason as to why you would think otherwise."

She sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, this was actually my first conference presentation, but I'm glad I'm doing it right." The pair shared a bout of laughter before Dana shifted her gaze to the nearby tables. "I have to say, I kinda miss being able to wander around and check out everything else, though."

Steven nodded before offering, "Would you like to meet up for lunch to discuss the rest of the conference? I try to reach every table each time I go."

Her face lit up as she restrained herself from jumping for joy. "Seriously?! Thank you so much! I really appreciate all your help lately."

He smiled as he took out a small piece of paper, scribbled something on it, and handed it to her. "It's my pleasure. Here's my PokéNav number. Give me a call when you're free and we'll meet up in the dining hall."

After thanking him profusely, Dana watched Steven move on to the next table and readied herself to present again.


	5. Enthusiasts

Later that afternoon, Dana was walking beside Maria in the cafeteria as they picked out their lunches. Along the way, the redhead had passed on Professor Sycamore's card and request. As the geologist paid for her and Gabite's meals, her boss was waiting beside her.

"What else did he say?" the brunette asked.

After thanking the cashier and stepping aside, Dana shrugged and explained, "I don't really know much about it. He seems to want to keep his research fairly secret for now. Just meet with him and see what he wants."

Maria nodded as she looked out and scanned the crowd of conference-goers. "I suppose there wouldn't be any harm in that. I do wonder what he's searching for."

The short woman grinned as she spotted the pokémon professor and began to make her way over. Dana remained in her spot as she looked out for another. A few moments passed before she noticed her boss halt and turn back toward her.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you coming? You look surprisingly nervous." She tensed. "Please, tell me he wasn't that bad."

The lanky woman let out an amused snort. "He was _interesting,_ but not _bad_."

Her boss let out a relieved sigh. "Oh, good... What are you waiting for? Come on."

As Dana caught a glimpse of a shiny metagross in the distance, she flashed the lab head an awkward smile. "Actually, I made plans to meet with someone else."

Maria's eyebrows twitched upward. "Really? I thought you didn't know anyone here."

The redhead glanced to the side. _"Well…_ it's actually someone I met during the aerodactyl excavation. He came up to me earlier, we talked a bit, and agreed to meet up for lunch."

The corners of Maria's lips curved into a sly grin. "Oh, _I see._ You know, it would be good for you to meet a man in the field."

Dana rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you're worse than my mother sometimes. It's just to go over what I missed from the other labs."

As expected, that didn't satisfy her romance-obsessed employer. "Uh huh, _sure_ it is." She turned and waved as she cooed, "Don't waste your time talking to me. I wouldn't want you to keep your _friend_ waiting."

Dana shook her head of curly hair before making her way over to a table at the opposite end of the dining hall, the shiny metagross acting as her easy flag. As she approached, Steven looked up from his untouched meal and smiled, prompting a habitual grin from the geologist as she tried to ignore her newfound nerves. After all, it wasn't every day that such a respected member of the geological community personally invited her to talk about a conference. The former Champion stood and pulled out the chair opposite him.

She smiled at him. "Thanks again for your offer."

"Of course."

After placing her tray on the table, she reached to the lone pokéball on her belt and let Gabite out. The cave pokémon inhaled deeply as he turned to the table, briefly glancing to Steven's Metagross before eyeing the food on the trays. He let out a low grumble—one that Dana had started calling his 'purr', much to Gabite's protests—as his gaze locked onto a rice ball on Steven's plate. A corner of his lips separated, showing his pointed teeth as his eyes twinkled. Dana jumped up as he lunged forward, yanking the tray from his reach just in time.

 _"_ _Gabite!_ Don't be so rude. You have your own food," the redhead scolded.

He snorted and looked away as he folded his arms.

She sighed and apologized to Steven before turning back to her pokémon. "Look, I know you don't like being in there for so long, but you need to promise me that you'll behave on the floor this time. Got it? People just want to see what we have. They're not going to take anything."

A few moments passed before he grinned slightly and took his plate from her tray. After purring slightly, he sat down next to Metagross and began eating.

Dana flashed Steven an apologetic smile. "Yeah, sorry about that."

He smiled encouragingly as he adjusted his tray. "It's quite alright. Training is a process."

The two of them watched as Gabite pouted at his now-empty plate. Metagross picked up a small piece of his own meal and stared at it for a moment before offering it to the smaller pokémon. Gabite grinned as he snatched the food from his grasp and devoured it in one bite. The cave pokémon gave the Steel-type a thumbs up, which Metagross returned as best he could, prompting laughs from their trainers.

After the two of them began eating, Dana asked, "So, what'd I miss?"

Steven politely dabbed his napkin against his mouth as he finished chewing. "There were quite a few fossil discoveries. The Pewter Museum of Science unveiled their latest fossil recovery technologies and plans to give demonstrations on the main features for the remainder of the conference. I haven't seen every table yet, but there was one that I thought you would find particularly interesting." He pulled out a paper from his coat pocket and handed it to her. "I apologize for the folds."

She put down her utensils as she read the title of the paper: _New Forms Discovered for Geodude._

Raising an eyebrow, she turned to Steven. "I've heard that trainers have been discovering new forms of pokémon in Alola."

"Ah, but this case is different from those," he clarified. "The geodudes in question are still Rock-type, but have a different mineral makeup."

"Well, yes, they've already shown that geodudes are always sedimentary rocks," she began. "Conglomerates in particular, but all with individual mineral makeups that are correlated with their habitats."

He nodded. "I thought the same at first and assumed the presentation was going to be on sandstone shinies, but was proven wrong. The traveling group of Castelia researchers were near Mt. Chimney in Hoenn when they discovered rhyolite geodudes."

Dana's jaw dropped. _"Rhyolite?_ That isn't even sedimentary. That's just—wow—that's incredible! And they were functioning pokémon?" She immediately turned the paper to the first figure depicting the red-orange geodudes. "Amazing."

"I thought you might find it interesting." As the geologist tried to return the paper, Steven just pushed it back. "You can have this copy."

"Oh, thanks!" She placed it off to the side as she commented, "You know, I'm surprised that you weren't the one who found these geodudes first, being the former Champion of Hoenn and all."

He laughed. "As am I, but I know where to look when I return."

She nodded before putting an inquisitive finger to her chin. "Hey, speaking of which, I've been wondering: what were you doing all the way out in Sinnoh?"

"I'm interested in rare stones, so I travel here and there," he explained. "I explored much of Hoenn during my time as Champion, but giving up the title has allowed me to pursue my hobby elsewhere. I had heard much about Sinnoh's famous Underground as a teenager, and have wanted to explore it for some time now. In fact, I plan to return after the conference."

Dana tilted her head. "Really? Well, if you're in the area, maybe I could show you what I've been working on. It's… erm…" She pursed her lips as she tried to remember the location. "Was it in Celestic or Eterna…? Well, it's somewhere just north of Mt. Coronet… at least, I _think_ it is…" She let out a nervous chuckle. "Why don't I just give you directions from Oreburgh?"

Steven smiled as he laughed slightly. "Yes, that would do nicely."

She nodded as she gave him a detailed account of her frequent trek through the Underground, adding landmarks and traders of interest along the way. The rare stone enthusiast jotted down her instructions, starring a few key deposits to check out while in the area. From the corner of her eye, the redhead noticed other patrons returning to the conference floor.

Steven stood as he returned the notepad to his coat pocket. "Thank you for your company today. I quite enjoyed our conversation."

Dana followed in suit and shook his hand. "Me too."

"Perhaps we could meet again?"

She grinned. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

With that decided, they parted ways. Metagross returned to his pokéball while Gabite followed closely behind his trainer.


	6. Downtime

Back in Sinnoh, Dana was sitting at her desk in the back room of the Eterna lab. She had the latest edition of the Sinnoh Geological Journal opened in her lap as she read an article on the effects of microbes on minerals in the polar regions. Contrary to the untrained eye, she wasn't slacking off—keeping up to date on the latest research was a part of her job. Besides, she never went anywhere without Gabite, and he was busy.

Just behind the redhead, Arno was making his latest adjustments to his invention. He placed a new chunk of excavated rock on the bench-top and watched the screen of his device as he scanned it over the sample. A few moments passed before he retracted his hand and pursed his lips.

"Alright, Gabite," he called out. "Point out the gems."

Dana glanced back and watched as her pokémon stopped admiring his jewels and pointed to various spots along the sample. Arno seemed fairly pleased at first, though she caught his furrowed brows at a few hits that his device had clearly missed. He chewed on his pen cap for a few moments before taking notes and grumbling to himself. Gabite fidgeted in his spot as he scratched at the rock sample, though the analyst was so engrossed in his work that he didn't even hear the sounds.

Soon after returning her attention to the article, Dana heard the telltale snap of Gabite's jaw, followed by Arno's familiar yelp.

Furrowing her brows, she turned around to face her pokémon. _"Hey!_ What did I tell you about nipping?"

As per usual, Gabite simply pouted and scratched at the hidden jewels.

The geologist rolled her eyes and gestured to his resting area. "You have gems right there."

A low growl emitted from his throat as he scratched at the sample again.

Fully turning around, Dana folded her arms. "Knock it off. I said no. If you nip again, I'm taking someone else into the caves. Got it?"

The cave pokémon snorted before licking his thumb and wiping the saliva on Arno's arm, prompting the man to shudder as he leaned back and wiped the spit on his pant leg. Gabite snickered to himself as he returned to his resting area and picked up a handful of crystals from his hoard.

"Thanks." The lanky man adjusted his glasses as he assured Dana, "The Dig-O-Matic should be ready soon. I'll need you to do a field test and compare it to Gabite's abilities."

She raised an eyebrow as she cracked a smile. "You know that's not going to be the name on the patent, right?"

He jokingly placed a hand on his chest. "It'll always be the Dig-O-Matic in my heart."

The redhead let out a chuckle as she shook her head. "Yeah, yeah. So what's your scale when you say 'soon'?"

Arno turned back to the device and started making adjustments as he told his coworker, "The radar should be ready for testing in the coming weeks. I want you to start with the Underground since that's what you know best, but you'll have to fan out and test it in caves around other regions. I'm gonna work up a schedule based off what's left in the budget."

"Alright. Just let me know when."

With that she turned her attention back to the article. She had only made it another few words in before Maria burst into the room, a rolled-up magazine in hand. She stormed right up to the geologist and placed her hands on her hips as Dana warily eyed her boss and slowly lowered the journal.

"I knew you were meeting with a guy for lunch every day, but I can't _believe_ you didn't tell me it was Steven Stone— _the_ Steven Stone!"

Dana frowned. "We were just going over what I missed at the other tables. I really don't see what the big deal was." She folded her arms as she leaned back in her seat. "And why are you only confronting me about this now?"

The brunette folded her arms. _"Sure_ it wasn't romantic... Then, how do you explain _this?"_

She opened the magazine and turned it to face the redhead. Right on the centerfold was a picture of Dana and Steven eating lunch together. He was smiling, and she was bobbing her head mid-laugh over a plate of steaming food, red curls flying everywhere. What they had cropped out was the context of Metagross holding Gabite's plate out of his reach after the Ground-Dragon-type decided that stealing his meal was okay. To the left of the image was the title in bold lettering: "Steamy Secret Date between Steel Master and Scientist."

Dana's cheeks immediately flushed as dark as her hair as she read through the _clearly_ inaccurate—and, quite frankly, overly dramatic—tale of her supposed star-crossed romance with the former Champion.

Smacking her hand against her head, the geologist grumbled, "Arceus help me. I have no clue how you've managed to be successful when you believe tabloids like these."

In the meantime, Arno had come over and snatched the magazine to read the "article" for himself. It wasn't long before he doubled over in guffaws so loud that no other conversations could be had. Maria huffed as she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at the man.

Tears were streaming down his face as he quoted one of the cheesier lines. "...Gazed into his steely Steel-Master eyes..." Another bout of laughter filled the room. "Is this trash what you're always reading in your office?"

"Hey, I'll have you know, that was very tame compared to—" Blood rushed to her cheeks. "I mean: yes."

Dana slyly grinned as she teased, "She probably spends more time thinking about Roark than actually reading."

Maria narrowed her eyes. "Oh, you hush."

The redhead snickered. "So was there actually anything you needed or can I get back to reading _real_ articles?"

Maria relaxed as her cheeks returned to their usual hue. "Sycamore may have a real lead on our aerodactyl fossil. We need to check that day's haul for something like one of these." She pulled out two rainbow-colored stones: one the size of a marble, and the other several times larger. "He's calling the big one a mega stone and the small one a key stone."

Gabite tensed and hunched over his small pile of gems as he growled.

Dana shot her pokémon a warning glare before reminding him, "Professor Sycamore said it wouldn't be something you'd be interested in." Turning back to Maria, she explained, "I left all that in a bin. It should be in the basement at the museum."

The short woman nodded. "Okay. I'll need you to deliver them to Sycamore in Kalos. He's too busy to come out here—he barely had time for the conference—and I'm too busy helping Roark work on hiring a security detail for the museum."

Dana smirked. "Anyone could help him do that—heck, he could probably do it himself."

The brunette straightened her posture as she argued, "As head of the research division, the safety of the museum is half my responsibility."

"Yeah, yeah. And as head of the mining division, it's half Roark's too." Dana waved a hand dismissively. "I know. I was just joking." As she closed the journal, she added, "I'll do it."

Arno scowled. "Not yet! I need you to test the radar outside Sinnoh _when you're done_ doing the Underground field test, and we only have the budget for a limited number of round trips. Maria, you _know_ this'll bring in a big paycheck for the lab, so we can't waste a trip like this. Just send the stones by mail."

Their boss put her hands on her hips as she looked up at the tall scientist. "These samples could be crucial to Professor Sycamore's research, and that is _not_ something I trust the postal system with."

Putting a finger to her chin, Dana tilted her head as she suggested, "Why don't I just wait and take it out after the field test? If he's so busy without this, he won't have time to analyze them for a while. If he does happen to get everything done before we're ready to send me out, then he can just come out and get the samples himself. Win-win."

Arno nodded. "Anything's better than wasting the budget."

Maria pursed her lips for a few moments. "I suppose that could be alright. I'll call him up."


End file.
